Elevator Pitch: InCube's Mir Imran on biotech, crowdfunding and the marriage of the two

After a long, dry winter, biotechnology has enjoyed a warm embrace of late from venture capital firms. Mir Imran of San Jose's InCube Labs might say, "What kept you?" The serial entrepreneur and investor has spent three decades focused on the life sciences.

In our latest Elevator Pitch, Imran opines on how long the rekindled VC love affair with biotech will last, and on how new crowdfunding trends may make the sector less reliant on venture capital in the future.

Q How'd you get into this racket?

A I have been in the business of innovating and building companies for the past 35 years. I began as an engineer and also went to medical school for three years. I decided to start my first company while still in school.

I also worked with a great team to commercialize the first implantable defibrillator, which was a formative experience. Since then, I have launched about two dozen companies.

Q What do you like about VC?

A My passion is around developing and commercializing medical innovations. Funding is one of the key ingredients for that successful commercialization. I became a venture capitalist to support that overall goal.

There are so many wonderful therapies that never make their way to patients, and in many cases, funding is often one of the key hurdles. We operate two different funds: InCube Ventures is a traditional venture fund, and VentureHealth.com is an online "crowdfunding" portal.

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Q What kinds of pitches are you looking for now?

A Breakthroughs. We are not in the business of incremental innovations. We have interest in a lot of different areas, including remote patient monitoring, drug delivery technologies and unique therapies to treat chronic diseases.

Q What's the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make?

A Entrepreneurs need to remember not to fall in love with a solution too early -- don't jump to a specific technology or approach until you deeply understand the problem. Once you understand the problem well enough, the solution becomes obvious.

Q What's the next big thing going to be?

A Wearables are certainly getting a lot of attention. What I see as the future, though, is the intersection of drugs and devices -- new therapies that will change how patients suffering from diseases like brain cancer, epilepsy and atrial fibrillation are treated.

I am also excited about our work in obesity -- it's a tough space with a lot of failures, but we're confident we are onto something transformative.

Q Are you encouraged by the recent upsurge in biotech after a long spell that saw investors flee the sector?

A I don't let myself get too excited or down about shifts in the market. Life science innovation is a long road. It takes 8 to 10 years on average to build a successful company, and sometimes longer to reach financial returns.

I stay focused on the long term goal: bringing exciting therapies to market that will dramatically affect the lives of patients. That is my motivation, and it's what keeps me in the business.

Q So do you see crowdfunding as a significant new source of startup capital, or is it too soon to say for sure?

A I see crowdfunding as a very viable funding mechanism, both for early-stage companies as well as later-stage companies. I believe in it so much that I started VentureHealth to fund health care innovations.

We have a different model from most; we heavily vet our deals, so investors can feel confident that the ones we post have a strong chance of success. We're getting great feedback from both entrepreneurs and investors. The entrepreneurs are encouraged that they have access to a new source of capital, and investors are excited to have access to deals that are usually reserved for VCs. It's a win-win.

It will take time to demonstrate success, but we believe it's a powerful funding model, and we are encouraged by the reception we're getting from the market.